Water Explosion Engine, Method, and Device

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a method for producing superheated steam in an engine in which highly compressed water is injected into a very hot medium located in the engine, resulting in explosion-like evaporation. Said process is to take place in a specially developed rotational-translational engine in order to utilize a maximum of the thrust of the steam. The engine is to comprise at least two cylinders which have a circular cross-sectional shape ( 10 ) and inside which the drive shaft ( 11 ) is disposed eccentrically. A rotor ( 12 ) that is connected to an element ( 16 ) which is inserted through the drive shaft ( 11 ) is arranged on the drive shaft. Said element ( 16 ) can be moved back and forth in the drive shaft ( 11 ) while the ends thereof are fixedly anchored to the rotor ( 12 ). The two ends of the rotor ( 10 ) are provided with a specially designed triple-roll seal ( 13 ) that can lengthen and shorten the rotor ( 10 ), which is a requirement when the drive shaft ( 11 ) is placed non-axially in a circular cylinder ( 10 ). The rotor ( 10 ) has an elongate, elliptical shape and separates the cylinder chamber ( 10 ) into two expanding and contracting working chambers A and B.

Conventional petrol and diesel internal combustion engines produce notonly hazardous exhaust gases but also convert about 50% of the fuelduring the combustion process into heat which is not used to drive theengine, but must be eliminated by cooling in order to avoid overheatingthe engine. Furthermore, the engines require extensive technicalcomplexity for a crank shaft, cam shaft and valves, which incur costs,are subject to wear and increase the weight.

The aim of the present invention is to provide a method and a devicethat overcome the disadvantages of internal combustion engines. This isachieved by a water-explosion and an engine which is suitable for thispurpose. Water is injected at high pressure into a hot medium, so it isatomized into small droplets of 1 μm³, which are immediately andexplosively changed to superheated steam. This innovative methodovercomes virtually all the negative phenomena that accompany internalcombustion engines.

According to the inventive method, a medium which has been heated toseveral hundred degrees Celsius is fed into the engine, into which waterto which a pressure of 1500 bar has been applied, is injected (claim 1aand 1b).

On the basis of our scientific experiments and the laws of physics, thewater is atomized immediately into small droplets with a size of 1 μm³in these conditions, thus resulting in 1 mm³ of water creating a billiondroplets. The increase in the water surface area that is achieved inthis way results in the droplets being changed explosively tosuperheated steam (claims 1 and 2).

It was necessary to develop a suitable engine in which the steam cancarry out work (claim 3). The steam moves the rotation-translation rotorforwards to half a revolution of the drive shaft. The steam and the hotmedium are then forced back by the rotor through the outlet opening inthe side wall of the engine, and the steam is condensed again by acooling device, to form water (claim 4).

In order to avoid heat being unnecessarily lost, the entire engine isenclosed in an insulating capsule. The engine is therefore optimally atan operating temperature of several hundred degrees Celsius (claim 5).

The necessary structure is designed as follows, and will now beexplained with reference to exemplary embodiments and the attachedschematic drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 shows the functional principle of the water-explosion engine;

FIG. 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional illustration through thehousing and the rotation rotor, as well as the drive shaft and theconnecting rod plate;

FIG. 3 shows a perspective illustration of the housing block and of theside wall;

FIG. 4 shows a perspective illustration of the sealing rollers, of therotor and of the drive shaft with the connecting rod plates inserted,and

FIG. 5 shows one schematic, possible arrangement of the engine in theinsulating box.

The rotation-oscillation rotor (12) moves in a circular cylinder (10)which is closed on both sides by a side wall (33) and in which thebearing for the drive shaft (11) is arranged eccentrically. The rotor isin the form of an ellipse which is sealed at both ends by a speciallydeveloped seal comprising three rollers (13). As a result of theeccentric arrangement of the drive shaft (11) in a circular cylinder(10), the rotor (12) must have a different length in each position ofits rotation, in order to ensure sealing against the cylinder wall. Thisobject is achieved by the 3-roller seal (13), illustrated in fourdifferent positions during revolution, in FIGS. 1 a to 1 d.

A moving connecting rod plate (16) is passed through the drive shaft(11) within the rotor (12), which has a free space (14) in the center,is connected to the rotor and allows it to carry out itsoscillation-translation movement, in order to cause the drive shaft tocarry out a rotary movement.

The openings for the outlet for the steam and medium (35) as well as theinlet for the hot medium (36) and for the water injection (37), as wellas the hole (34) for the drive shaft bearing, are located in the sidewall (33) of the housing (32). The inlet for the heated medium (36) isclosed by the rotor, and is opened only when the depression (17) whichhas been milled out in the rotor, illustrated as a dashed-line shadedarea, passes over the inlet (36) during its rotation. During this phase,the rotor sucks the incandescent burner gases into the cylinder area.

The water is injected at a pressure of about 1500 bar when there issufficiently hot medium in the chamber A which is formed between therotor and the cylinder wall. Preferably when the rotor has movedforwards through 32° (FIG. 1 b).

According to the laws of physics, the water which has been injected at apressure of 1500 bar is atomized into small droplets with the size of 1μm³ in the medium, which is at the environmental pressure of about 1bar. This means that 1 mm³ of water results in approximately 1 billiondroplets which are immediately and explosively converted to superheatedsteam in the medium, which has been heated to several hundred degreesCelsius. The power developed by steam is known from conventional steamengines.

The outlet for steam and medium (35) is permanently open. While therotor is subject to steam pressure in the chamber A, it forces thesteam-medium mixture out in the opposite chamber B. This means that twosteam explosions will have taken place during each revolution of theshaft. After leaving the engine, the steam-medium mixture passes througha suitable cooling device in which the steam condenses again to formwater, so that only hot air leaves the exhaust. The incandescent mediumis produced by a suitable propane-gas burner (53) or heating-oil burner.The entire engine is surrounded by an insulating sheath (52) so that theheat from the burner is not immediately lost, but also heats the engine.

As far as possible, the engine is intended to be at the operatingtemperature of several hundred degrees Celsius, and only the heat lossresulting from vaporization of the water is used to drive the engine.The energy consumption should be considerably less than conventionalengines and, in addition, the exhaust gases that are created by thecontinuous combustion of the fuel will be considerably less, withpresent-day burner technology, than in the case of diesel or petrolexplosion engines.

1. A method for driving an engine by atomizing water for steamproduction, wherein the water to be atomized is subjected to a highpressure and is injected in a pulsed form through a nozzle into a heatedmedium which is provided at the normal pressure of approximately 1×10⁵Pascal in the engine, such that the water is atomized into very smallparticles, as a result of its high internal pressure, resulting in thewater being explosively vaporized. 2-12. (canceled)
 13. The method asdefined in claim 1, wherein said water to be atomized is subjected to apressure of approximately 1500×10⁵ Pascal.
 14. The method as defined inclaim 1, wherein said medium has been heated to several hundred degreesCelsius.
 15. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the waterparticles which are produced have a size of about 1 μm³.
 16. The methodas claimed in claim 1, wherein, after leaving the engine, the steam iscondensed to water again in a cooling device and the condensed water isfed back again into the water tank.
 17. The method as claimed in claim1, wherein the engine is thermally insulated in order to avoid heatlosses.
 18. A drive system comprising: a) an engine having at least oneengine area, b) a controlled nozzle (51 a, 51 b) which sprays thecompressed water into the engine area at a variable pressure value ofpreferably 1500×10⁵ Pascal and is electronically controlled in order toregulate the amount injected, c) a high-pressure pump produces apressure of preferably 1500 bar and is electronically controlled inorder to ensure the amount injected, d) means for introducing hot mediuminto the engine area, into which water is injected, e) a suitablecooling device which ensures that the steam condenses again to formwater, f) an insulating sheath (52) which surrounds the engine (50)therefore heating it by the heat which is produced by a burner (53). 19.The drive system as claimed in claim 18, wherein the heated mediumcomprises incandescent burner gases.
 20. The drive system as claimed inclaim 18, wherein the engine comprises at least two cylinders (21, 31,10) having a circular cross section which is delimited on both sides bya side wall (33) provided with holes for bearing the drive shaft (34),an outlet of a medium-steam mixture (35), an inlet for the medium (36)and for the water injection (37), a translation/rotation rotor (12, 23,43) being moveably in the cylinders (21, 31, 10) which has an ellipticalshape and divides each cylinder (10, 21, 31) into two chambers (A and B)with increasing and decreasing volumes, the drive shaft (11, 24, 44)being arranged eccentrically in the circular cylinder (10, 21, 31). 21.The drive system as claimed in claim 20, wherein the rotor (12, 23, 43)is connected to the shaft (11, 24, 44) such that rotor and shaft rotatetogether while the rotor can also move linearly in the lateraldirection, so that it can carry out a combined rotation and translationmovement.
 22. The drive system as claimed in claim 21, wherein the rotorhas cutouts for a variable-length seal at both ends of the ellipse, sothat during the rotation of the rotor, due to the cylinder area beingcircular and the rotation point of the shaft being arrangedeccentrically, the rotor can seal a different length in each rotationposition.
 23. The drive system as claimed in claim 22, wherein the sealscomprise three rollers (13, 27, 45), which are plugged one inside theother and have different diameters, such that the pressure ratios in thechambers (A, B) result in one of the rollers being always pressedagainst the cylinder wall and seals the chambers (A, B) from oneanother.
 24. The drive system as claimed in claim 20, wherein, for eachcylinder, the drive shaft (11, 24, 44) has a milled-out area for anelement (16, 25, 46) which extends in the lateral direction, which, inadjacent cylinders, are angularly offset with respect to each other. 25.The drive system as claimed in claim 24, wherein two cylinders areprovided and wherein the angular offset of the milled-out areas is 90°.26. The drive system as claimed in claim 24, wherein the element (16,25, 46) is in the form of a plate (46) with rounded edges, which can bepushed backwards and forwards in the milled-out area in the shaft (44),the ends of the plate (46) being firmly anchored with the rotor (12, 23,43), such that it can also carry out translation during its rotation.27. The drive system as claimed in claim 20, wherein a cavity (14, 26,47) is formed in the center of the rotor (12, 23, 43) and holds thedrive shaft (11, 24, 44) and the connecting rod plate (16, 25, 46). 28.The drive system as claimed in claim 20, on its side surfaces, the rotor(12, 23, 43) has cutouts which open the inlet (36) which is otherwisecovered by the side surfaces of the rotor, the cutouts (17) being chosensuch that they open the inlet only for one eighth of the rotation of therotor.